The Truth About Lying

Would you lie to win some quick cash? Researchers say probably not—especially if you're at home.

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Scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Bonn called random phone numbers in Germany and asked them to participate in a simple honesty test. They were told to flip a coin and report their results—a coin that landed on "tails" received a prize worth $20, while a "heads" toss earned nothing.

Surprisingly—to us, at least—55.6 percent of the 658 people surveyed said their coin landed heads first, meaning they got nothing. A second study of 94 random phone numbers asked participants to flip a coin a total of four times for a possible win of $6 for every time the coin landed tails first.

The result? The callers only reported a tails-first win about 50 percent of the time. Similar tests were conducted in a tightly controlled lab environment and showed that people were less likely to lie at home.

So, are we all just super truthful? Not quite: Researchers think it's about ego—we know that if we're caught fibbing about money, we're probably going to be labeled as frauds. And no one wants that.

As for those little white lies? As long as they can't affect our reputation, we don't care as much.

So, if you suspect your guy has been fibbing about how much he spent on those basketball game tickets, ask him at home. He should 'fess up.